Rwanda introduced a mandatory online business registration as Uganda lags behind focusing on E-governance.

The Rwanda Development Board, through the Office of the Registrar General, commenced mandatory online registration for all new businesses in Kigali. This move is in line with the RDB’s continued efforts to ease company registration process.

At the launch, the mandatory online system at the Rwanda Development Board, the Registrar General, Louise Kanyonga, explained why the shift to online services was important to the business community.

“The transition to online business registration comes as part of several other reforms aimed at making it easier to do business such as improving access to credit, making it easier to pay taxes and acquiring construction permits. This new reform will make it easier, cheaper, quicker and more convenient to register your business.”

According to Ivan Mugabi an enterprise architect, in regard to Uganda’s online business we are still lagging behind and concentrating more on E-Governance than E-business.

“It is clear now that our small lag behind in e-business development, or rather in e-strategies and rate of implementation will largely affect our performance as a nation (Uganda) and citizens in the regional and global trade. We seem to be preferring e-government development, but then I beg to ask, aren’t we too slow? Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) teamed up to register businesses, but do not have an online presence yet, and URSB is still using typewriters!”

The Office of the Registrar General In Rwanda will offer free online help services and free work spaces at the RDB head office for a 12 month period. In addition to that, users will be able to channel any difficulties they encounter in trying to use the online system through email.